Brewed tea is traditionally prepared by first boiling water and then transferring the boiling water to a pot holding tea leaves in a tea ball or bag. The tea is allowed to steep whereupon flavor is extracted from the tea leaves into the water. The strength of the flavor of the tea is primarily dependent upon the length of the steeping period.
Automatic brewing devices which heat water and transfer the heated water to a brewing basket or chamber for contact with a brewing material have heretofore been principally employed for brewing coffee and coffee related drinks such as cappucino. Such devices can be used with some success for preparing hot tea. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,790,240 and 4,843,954. However, since coffee-derived beverages typically do not require a steeping process wherein heated water is held in prolonged contact with ground coffee beans, these devices simply drain the brewing water from a brewing, devices which do not provide precise control of the rate of flow of heated water through a steeping chamber in which tea leaves are held are not ideally suited for brewing tea.
Automatic coffee makers typically utilize relatively thin-walled glass receptacles or decanters to receive, hold and thermally insulate the brewed coffee. Though suitable for coffee, these types of decanters are inadequate as receptacles for hot brewed tea for the reasons that they do not provide maximum insulation for heat retention including the absence of an insulative lid or cover, and are not aesthetically appropriate for typical tea drinkers accustom to serving hot tea from a traditional tea pot.
The present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages of the apparatus and methods of the prior art used to automatically prepare hot tea.